Novel Solutions for Novel Times - Economic and Supply Chain impacts

The first episode from the “Novel Solutions for Novel Times” webinar series, focusing around the economic and supply chain impacts of Covid-19.

Presented by:

Antony Welfare - Managing Director of Blockchain Practice @ DXC Technology

Geri Cupi - Co-founder and CEO @ MonoChain

Najib Rehman - Data Strategy Lead @ FarmaTrust

Nikhil Vadgama - Deputy Director @ UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies

Paolo Tasca - Executive Director @ UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies

Key Takeaways:

• The resilience of supply chains within healthcare, whether for drugs or equipment, is being heavily tested by the pandemic.

• We are witnessing a global shortage of medical goods, as their production relies on raw materials concentrated in a few key locations around the globe.

• Governments may progress towards the nationalisation of critical services and goods, such as ventilators.

• The pandemic will have rendered tens of millions of people unemployed, with a significant rise in suicides, following the pattern of the 2008 recession.

• The simultaneous lockdowns around the world represent the first time the global economy was ever shut down.

• The pandemic has generated unprecedented economic impacts for all communities and industries.

• The crisis may be an indication of underinvestment in some healthcare systems.

• Statistics show that countries with higher investments in their healthcare system have been better able to cope with exogenous shocks, leading to lower death rates during Covid-19.

• The key to business survival lies in the digitalisation of supply chains.

• Blockchain is a tool to effectively avoid counterfeiting during the global health crisis.

• In the long-run, companies will have to rethink the way business is done.

• Sustainability and climate change are taking centre-focus during the pandemic, and purpose-led companies are better equipped to survive the crisis.

• We can notice a shift in consumer attitudes, from the immediate need to purpose.

• Recessions are opportunities for automation bursts in economies.

• Blockchain, AI and IoT may come together in an unprecedented manner during the health crisis, benefiting organisations and economies in the long-run.

• It is yet to be seen whether the global health crisis will lead to an economic recession or depression, whose recovery is much slower.

• New tools and technologies can help policy-makers address Covid-19 in a way that is more effective than injecting liquidity in the economy.

• The pandemic is redefining what globalisation looks like.